


Titan and Enceladus

by Reiz16



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-25
Updated: 2019-10-02
Packaged: 2020-10-27 22:37:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20768090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reiz16/pseuds/Reiz16
Summary: Follow the adventures of Aaron Alair and his crew as they discover new lifeforms across vast distances!





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I'd like to thank William Wright, AKA Loftydreams101 for helping, again. Remember Please read his poem novels, Rhythms of the Eternal Uprising and The Slums of Nightfall. You can also find him on wordpress and deviantART. Mom helped, too!
> 
> I edited it today. 9/12/2019
> 
> More editing. 9/21/2019
> 
> More editing 11/25/2019
> 
> More editing 9/24/2019

It was the year 4,019. Three rock collectors were busy collecting, well, rocks. There was a spaceship in the shape of a snail for some reason.

A man with dark, purple hair (well, mane), and blue skin with nose slits instead of holes and purple vest with a blue T and blue undershirt, with crisscrossed black ropes wrapping him in, a strange, rectangular device inside of his mouth made him able to speak, looked up from the pilot seat which doubled as a swivel chair.

"Remind me again why we are harvesting rocks in the middle of The Asteroid Belt?" He asked.

"Because my wife wanted to see it, Yaron." another man explained.

He had on the skin tight, really light, sky-blue spacesuit of the day complete with a helmet and a back-pack for rock-carrying.

"For the millionth time, that's 'Lark' to you! Most 'Riders', as you Humans call us, some of us 'Riders', BUT NOT ALL OF US 'Riders', call each other by their last names.

"Well, I'm sorry that the communicators don't say your races' real name, but you can call me, Aaron, Lark!" the cheerful man offered.

"Nonsense! A 'Rider' only calls one by their given name if they are family or a good friend. Like a REALLY good friend! And I won't call you Aaron either, Captain Alair. In fact, I won't even call you 'Captain'!"

Then a woman in a skin tight, pink spacesuit walked, or rather, she had been standing in the doorway when she caught them. She threw her bag of rocks on the ground, effectively spilling it. She removed her helmet and long, flowing red hair that went well past her waste.

"I could hear you two arguing as soon as I came in. Through my helmet, even! And remember not to take your communicators off so we can understand each other."

"I wouldn't dream of it, Mrs. Alair." Yaron quietly said so full of sarcasm.

She starred him down, then leaned in and whispered into her husband's ear.

"Why did you even hire him?"

"No one else wanted him, Xena-Honey. I thought I was doing him a favor." Aaron whispered back.

"Well, you certainly aren't doing ME any favors!" Xena complained aloud.

Yaron made a noise that sounded like a neighing snort.

"Just try to get along, okay?" Aaron asked his wife.

"That goes for you, too, 'K?" Aaron asked his employee.

Aaron smiled. Considering everything that could go wrong, everything was alright.

"Let's head back to the lab, Yar-"

Yaron glared at him.

"Uh, I mean, 'Lark'!"

Yaron turned to his swivel chair and put his hands on the controls.

Xena looked out a window onto the asteroid.

"Just think. All those rocks, over millions of years, fell to, well, EARTH and changed and formed it into lava. Comets came and gave it water. Plate tectonics made the land warmer, even after most of the lava cooled. Even trenches deep within the oceans became teaming with life! And out of all the animals ever made, Humans have survived and thrived! And it all started with rocks."

"The same thing happened on 'Trotter', too." Yaron reminded her.

"Oh. There, too." Xena added.

The "snail" slowly rose into the sky, just enough to lift off.

Verrryy slooowly.

"Remind me of something else, Alair. Why get the SNAIL MODEL?" Yaron said, irritated.

"So we can 'slither' on top of the rocks sticking too tightly to the others. It also slows down the descent to planets and others." Aaron answered.

Yaron rolled his eyes. "I need to get off this ship."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Where do we go, now, Honey?" Xena asked Aaron.

"Anywhere you want, Xe-"

But Aaron was cut off by Yaron's coughing.

"To Saturn's moon, Enceladus, Xena-Honey. We need to return our recycled water. AND drop off the rocks."

"We're almost there." Yaron announced.

"This is Jeremy Eron of the Department of Space, Time, and Water. You're getting close enough to the moon, Enceladus to drop off your water. Thank you and have a nice day."

"Well, that was annoying." Yaron commented. "We know we're here."

The crew arrived at the icy moon. Giant buildings could be seen on the surface. They had legs like fold-up chairs and a big upside-down bowl at the top.

"So, there's where all the water from Enceladus goes?" Yaron asked, curiously. "It escapes into outer space?"

"No, the water catchers take care of them. And what can't be salvaged, AND taken to the stars, must be returned once recycled. Otherwise, we'll lose all the water." Xena explained.

"Why not just live on MY home planet? There's no need for water catchers, there." Yaron added.

"Yes, there is! Ever since we found the Riders 500 years ago, you've needed water regulated, too. Because you make just as much space travel as us Humans." Xena explained further.

"Yeah, but if someone who showers as much as you do goes on like that, they'll deplete all the water in the known universe!" Yaron said with much rudeness.

"Now, Yar-" But Aaron was cut again.

"LARK!" Yaron corrected.

"Lark. I'll have you know I won't let you be mean to my wife!" Aaron said, starting to get angry.

Then Xena tugged on his shirt.

"Honey, I tell you this a thousand times already. I like to fight for myself." Xena said, pleadingly.

"Fine. But don't get into too much trouble, okay?" Aaron pleaded, himself.

"I won't! Don't worry too much." she assured.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They arrived at a hole guarded by men in red suits and helmets. They waved them to the hole and the entire ship lurched forward at a rapid pace. Everyone was thrown backward.

"SEE?! THIS IS WHY WE NEEDED THE SNAIL MODEL!" Aaron yelled to Yaron.

"WHAT?!"

Everyone lurched forward once the ship stopped.

A robotic women's voice repeated a few words over an unseen loudspeaker. "Welcome to New Ottawa, capital of New Canada. You are currently in an air pocket."

"I haven't been in a air pocket city in SO long!" Xena declared. "I almost wish it was home."

There were gray medium-sized buildings and one white and shorter than the others.

No one had time to get out the ship when a woman in a white lab coat approached them. She had big, blonde pig tales in red rubber bands. She had thick-rimmed glasses and pretty white mary jane shoes.

"Heeeey, guys!" she greeted, as if she knew them well. And she did.

"Hey, Stacey." Aaron greeted back. We brought you some real good ones."

"I'm so glad you came! You always bring back the best specimens! We've been discovering all kinds of new elements, lately and we need as good as rocks as possible!"

"Well, one of us will get them for you! I'll-"

"I'll get it." interrupted Yaron.

"Oh? You're volunteering this time, Lark?"

"I just want to get off this planet and back to space. The less people to bother me, the better." Yaron spat.'

"O-kay." Aaron spoke slowly.

"That guy seems ify."Stacey said. "He keeps calling me, 'Crumb'. It's Stacey! STACEY!" Stacey pouted.

"Nah, that's just a Rider thing. Well, SOME Riders' thing, anyway." Aaron explained.

"Oh. I should apologize, than." Stacey conceded.

"I don't think that guy would appreciate that. He doesn't feel appreciated, anyhow." Xena warned.

"Then I won't!" Stacey decided.

"Xena! Now, you're saying bad things about Yaron to other people? Because you know he's harmless!" Aaron chastised.

"You know he's not!" Xena retorted.

"Um. If I may cut in?" asked Stacey in a small voice. "I have something to show you."

Both rock collectors stopped arguing to hear what she had to say. She appeared to be holding something in her hands.

"See this? It's my latest invention. Since you three-well, two, really-rock collectors, I'm giving it to you!"

"What is it?" asked Xena in wide-eyed fascination.

"It's a brain-wave tracker, and the only one of it's kind! You can use it to track others with high brain-waves across vast distances!" Stacey explained in wonder.

"You mean-"

"Yes! I mean you can find new aliens!"

Yaron came back from the ship in that moment.

"Here's your rocks, Miss Crumb." he said to Stacey as he place down the rocks in the bag.

"You can put them over there, Lark." she said as she pointed near the lab.

"You-Never mind." Yaron said, stopping himself from complaining.

As soon as Yaron left again, Stacey handed the brain-wave tracker to Aaron.

"The entire tracker is white. The purple button tracks the brainwaves." Stacey explained

Xena immediately piped up.

"Aaron, I wanna go see new aliens, now."

"But we need to replace our water." Aaron reminded.

"But we could go on an adventure! PLEASE?" Xena begged.

Aaron could not deny his wife even one little thing. Usually. He would've said no one more time, only the contraption went off.

It beeped and beeped until it went into a certain direction.

"Okay. We'll go. But only because there's a new water extraction center near where my father and mother live on Titan AND the device says it's in the same direction. We'll stop by there, say, 'Hi', leave our water at the extraction point, then follow the device to the stars!"

"SERIOUSLY?!" the three heard a yell behind them.

"Oh, Lark you're back!" Aaron called.

"I thought we would be returning our water! As soon as possible! And I didn't expect to go to another planet." Yaron complained.

"Relax. We'll be off-world soon. I know you don't like to be in one place too long. And Titan is a moon, not a planet." Aaron told him.

"Let's just get this over with." Yaron complained. Again.

"Since you've never been there before, or even my parents' house, I'll type in the coordinates and we'll be on our way."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They arrived on Titan, but had a LOT of trouble getting to the surface. They landed in a parking lot made just for spaceship.

"What's going on?!" Yaron called. "The ship is busted!"

"Nah, that's just Titan's atmosphere. Snail models don't do well with it." Aaron explained.

"Another robotic women's voice repeated a few words over an unseen loudspeaker. "Welcome to New D.C, capital of New America. You are currently on the surface. Be careful traveling on land."

They all got out of the ship and onto the surface. They had trouble moving.

"My parents are right over there across the street. We'll have to swim there."

"Why must we swim? That doesn't make any sense! There's no water." Yaron asked while complaining.

"The place was terraformed years and years ago. That means that made it more livable. It still has an atmosphere so thick, though, three feet off the ground, we have to swim through it."

So, the three swam to Aaron's parents' house.

Aaron knocked on the door and a woman answered. She was in a purple dress with blue flowers on it.

"MOM!" Aaron called.

"Sweetie!" the woman called back. "Come in, come in!"

Everyone walked in as Aaron's mom lead them to the living room and sat on the couch.

"The air isn't thick anymore." Yaron commented.

"That's because the air conditioners are powerful enough to clear the air on the moon, at least on the inside." Xena explained.

"Huh".

Aaron's mother went into the other room.

A man walked in with a grey suit with oil stains on it.

"Hi, son! I see you brought your wife AND a new friend over!"

"He's NOT my friend!" Yaron retorted. "He's just the captain of the ship. And the engineer."

"Oh, that's a shame." Aaron's father lamented. "He made a lot of friends in high school and I'm pretty sure he's still friends with the lot of them. I'm not an engineer by the way. I'm a mechanic."

Aaron's mother walked in. She had a pumpkin pie.

"Aaron, Sweetie, you forgot to tell them MY job. And you failed to introduce us. If you do, you can have a snaaa-ck."

"Right. Everyone, my mom is named Carol and my dad's name is Freddy. Mom grows flowers for a living." Aaron explained.

"I can see by her dress." Yaron commented.

"Thank you!" Carol said with a smile.

"Your daughter-in-law is the opposite. She's a total moocher and does nothing on the ship." Yaron complained.

"That's not true! I'm Second in Command and Second Loadmaster! I carry in most of the specimens." Xena retorted.

"Yaron!" Aaron yelled. "Don't talk like that in front of my parents!"

"What? I really am NOT complaining. I only speak the truth." Yaron said bluntly.

"Let's go." Aaron said as he got up.

"May I speak with you, Aaron?" asked Carol as she sat down the pie.

"Me, too?" asked Freddy.

"I think I already know what you're going to say, but okay." Aaron conceded.

They walked into the kitchen.

"Sweetie, why are you letting that man say mean things about our family?" asked a concerned Carol.

"If I were you, I'd fire him." Freddy said.

"I know he acts mean, but he's not all bad." Aaron admitted. "I'll find a way to turn him around. Expect it."

"I know you don't like to see people in pain. You always wanted to help people, even when you were little, but just be careful, okay?" Carol implored.

"I will, Mom."

All at once, there was a knock on the door. Aaron and his parents walked into the living room.

"Open up! It's the DSTW!" an angry voice yelled.

"The Department of Space, Time, and Water?" Aaron questioned.

"Yes! Open!" the voice replied.

Xena answered the door. Two men, both in black coats entered the room. One was a Rider with yellow skin and an orange mane.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"I'm Soo Claxton." said the Rider man.

"And I'm Jeremy Eron." said the Human man.

"Oh, you're the guy on the loudspeaker that warns people to return their water!" Xena said in realization.

"Yup. And today, you guys are lucky enough to be my suspects for today." Jeremy spat.

"That doesn't sound too lucky." said Yaron.

"I was being sarcastic." Jeremy said.

"Well, the thing is-" but Aaron was cut off.

"We were going to return the water to the new water place here on Titan, but we used a Snail ship and it malfunctioned when we went on Enceladus. Before e went here." Yaron lied.

"You used a SNAIL ship on ENCELADUS? Are you crazy?" Jeremy retorted.

"Yup. Could you please take the water with you while we get our ship repaired?" Yaron negotiated.

"Sure. Do you still have emergency water?" Jeremy asked.

"Yup! So, we'll be ready to leave as soon as Captain Aaron's father fixes it. He's a mechanic." Yaron told him.

"Fine. If there are no problems, that will be all." Jeremy left before anyone could have said anything else.

"Sorry if we bothered you." Soo apologized. "Even if you did nothing wrong, my partner can be a real hothead."

"Oh, I think I know somebody who's even worse." said Aaron with a smile as he looked at Yaron.

Yaron only rolled his eyes.

Soo left with a "Bye!".

"Let's leave in a few minutes. That way they can't see us leave." Yaron suggested.

"Shouldn't we watch them load our water somewhere else?" Aaron asked.

"I'll look out the window!" Xena said.

So, they waited.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Now to the stars!" Xena called out as she pointed at the sky.

Aaron smiled. Yaron laughed.

"Nice to see you happy." Aaron told him.

"And thanks, I guess for coming up with a way that we wouldn't get into trouble." Xena told him, too.

"No need to thank me." Yaron said. "Now comes the hard part."

"What do you mean?" asked Xena.

"The space gates. The ones that prevent us from time traveling? The ones that cause time travel depending on how you go? The DSTW won't like us going past them. And we need to go past them to get to this other planet by passing through the gates." Yaron explained.

"Hmm. But if we managed to find intelligent life, wouldn't we be regarded as heroes?" Aaron asked.

"Perhaps. But we NEED to find some, definitely." Yaron explained further.

"Well, I say we go!" Xena declared.

"You know I'd go anywhere with you, even to the stars, Honey!" Aaron agreed.

"Bleh. Love. I guess I'm going, too." Yaron said.

"Your the pilot! We can't do it without you, Y-" Aaron was cut off.

"LARK." Yaron reminded.

"Right. Lark. To the stars!" Aaron declared.

"To the stars!" Xena declared.

"Right. To the stars." Yaron declared.

And, once again, they went to the stars.


	2. How to Stand on Your Own Two Feet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I edited it a tiny bit. 9/21/2019
> 
> Edited more. 9/21/2019
> 
> Edited again. 10/02/2019
> 
> Edited again. 11/25/2019

On a very small planet on the edge of the Andromeda Galaxy were two beings with pink hair, floppy pink ears, red skin, and black furs with black fur shoes, stood on the edge of a small forest of blue plants. One held a stick out and appeared to use it to walk. The one without the stick was taller and younger than the other. It was hard to see just how tall the two figures were.

It was night, and although the stars were out, they were only shining on the two a little bit.

"You ever look out there and wonder what those twinkling things are, I mean, besides our sun?" the younger one spoke to the elder.

"Yes, but it's probably best if we don't think about it. We'll never be able to reach them." the elder assured.

"You mean we'll never be able to get off the ground to see them?" the younger questioned further.

"We might be able to get off the ground, but PROBABLY not up THERE." the elder explained.

"How can we get off the ground?" the younger asked in surprise.

"I'll tell you when you're ready." the elder promised.

"But I'm old enough!" the younger retorted. "I think I know who'll tell me!"

"She won't tell you, either." the elder spoke.

"But-" the younger was cut off.

I'll tell you. When you're ready." the elder repeated.

"Fine. Until then, twinkling things." the younger spoke to half the elder, half to the stars.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The former-rock-harvesters were busy traveling through space to find the new planet with intelligent life.

"We'll have to go DOWNWARD, and then FORWARD to fool the space gates." Yaron explained. "If you need extra explanations, I gotta say that going downward should avoid detection, then forward to get to where we're going. Most people are able to do this, but either never return or arrested. That's why we have to be sure to bring back a new alien. That way, everyone won't care we broke the law."

"We'll be heroes!" Aaron said, elated.

"But hey. How did the DSTW figure out we didn't return our water, anyhow?" Xena asked.

"They have special instruments to detect such a thing." Yaron explained further.

"And the spokesperson picked US for no reason?" Xena poked.

"Lucky us." Yaron said.

"Oh, and how come they don't detect us leaving the galaxy?" Xena asked again.

"They can't be allowed to track us EVERYWHERE. That would be invading our privacy." Yaron said.

"Good for us!" Aaron said, looking on the good side.

"IF this thing actually works!" Yaron said as he pointed to the brainwave tracker on the dashboard.

"How long will it take to get there?" Xena asked.

Words appeared on the screen on the tracker.

"It says 'About a week'." Yaron explained.

"Aww!" Xena pouted.

"It's only a week, Honey." Aaron told her.

"You're right! BRING IT ON, SPACE!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A week later, the crew made it to a small, blue planet with a red sun.

"That's a brown dwarf!" Xena pointed out.

"But it's red." Yaron attempted to correct.

"It matters the size, not the color." Xena corrected.

Yaron whinnied.

They landed on the planet with relative ease.

"Huh. The atmosphere is allowing the Snail Model to ease onto the planet real smooth-like." Aaron commented.

Yaron looked outside.

"There's these tree-like things out there. They're ENORMOUS! But the weirdest thing is the ship won't land. It's just hovering!"

"I'll get some 'rocks' and put them in here!" Xena volunteered. "They'll weigh down the ship!"

"I'll help!" Aaron offered.

"I can do it myself, you know." Xena reminded.

"Okay. Just be careful." Aaron told her.

"I will, I will." Xena assured.

"Lark, do we have any extra rocks from the last harvest?" Aaron asked.

"Yup. I didn't unload them all." Yaron admitted.

"Why?!" Aaron got mad.

"Oops."Yaron said.

"You should seriously think about firing him." Xena said with her hands on her hips.

"We'll see." Aaron whispered.

"Well, here I go."

Xena put on her helmet, grabbed her backpack full of rocks, and went outside. She began gathering brown rocks at the bottom of a cliff.

Aaron and Yaron heard the brainwave tracker AND a rumbling outside.

Xena, in another case, found it hard not to float part-way off the ground before gathering some not-so-heavy rocks.

Aaron got on the ship's communicator/mic and talked into Xena's.

"GET BACK ON THE SHIP!"

"Why?" Xena asked.

All at once, creatures the size of the palm of a hand ran past Xena and she fell against a "tree".

She began to rise and rise and rise, and went half-way to the top.

"I'M COMING!" Aaron called.

The little palm-sized things kept on going past her.

Aaron put on a helmet and, got a backpack full of rocks, and then rushed outside. The little things had already ran by. He grabbed some branches to the tree, but ended up floating a bit because he put the rocks down.

But Aaron went on.

He went on until he caught his wife.

Xena appeared to be grabbing fruit.

"What are you doing?" Aaron called out to her.

"These babies are as hard as rocks!" Xena called back. "They can weigh us down."

They landed on the ground with a "thump!"

Yaron could see them from inside the ship.

"One of you drop all the fruit you're carrying. But grab the other's hand."

"Why?" Xena asked.

"Just do it!" Yaron said, pinching his nose.

Xena dropped her fruit. Aaron dropped some, but then grabbed her. Xena was floating off the ground, just like before!

She picked up her fruit and steadied herself.

"What just happened?!" she asked.

"The planet is too big in size for the plants and too small for the animals. I have a theory-the planet is so small, the intelligent life has to be small enough to stay on it without falling into space. This is different for the plants because their roots can dig into the soil, so they're bigger." Yaron explained.

"We better keep these rocks between us until we get back to the ship just in case." Xena told her husband.

"Don't use your knees!" Yaron warned.

"Huh?" Aaron wondered aloud.

"Your knees! It MIGHT cause you to fly off, again." Yaron explained further.

Xena started walking. Then she started floating. Aaron grabbed her and they both held the backpacks.

"So, we have to be like Frankenstein's Monster, huh?" Xena asked aloud.

"Yep." Yaron confirmed. "By the way, this planet has nothing but oxygen on it. You can take your helmets off."

"You tell us this, NOW?" Xena complained.

"Nah, I just didn't notice it on the dashboard until now. I swear." Yaron spoke the truth.

All at once, the "little things" came back. A sea of pink with red hair came.

One of the aliens tried to speak, but all that came out was "Feihc rou ot ekat tusm ew."

"Here. Borrow my communicator." Aaron offered.

The communicator had trouble fitting, but it worked.

"We must take you to our chief."

Xena repeated for her husband.

"I guess we have to see their chief." said Xena.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

There was a firepit and Aaron saw tons of little tents everywhere.

"I think we're at a campsite." Aaron told his wife.

"I can't believe Yaron up and left us! I mean, I know he's a crab, but to do that-" but Xena was cut off.

"Shh! I can hear some people talking." Aaron spoke.

Off in the distance, the crew could hear voices.

"I can't understand the, though." Aaron admitted.

"Me either." said Xena.

"What will we do with the 'Big People', Chief Gareth?" one alien asked.

"What do you mean, 'do with them'?" the leader spoke back. "We obviously can't let them go. BUT we can't hurt them, either. We've ALWAYS been against violence."

"I think we should make friends with them, Dad!" said yet another voice. "They can teach us sooo much!"

"Young Tousin, son, you are still a child, the way you act!" spoke a female voice.

"Mom, I'm old enough to make my own decisions!" Tousin retorted.

"I agree with you, Karin." spoke Gareth. "But we must do SOMETHING about the Big People."

All at once, a large scream could be heard from the forest. Another "Big Person" ran through the trees, covered in mud.

"RUN!" Gareth commanded.

Little pink and red things ran all over the place, even around the two humans.

The Mud Monster ran up to Xena and Aaron and grabbed them by their arms.

"Aaah!" Xena yelped.

"Shh! It's me!" Yaron whispered.

"You came back for us?" she asked.

"I never planned on staying away." Yaron admitted. "I just left because I needed a plan, first."

"Well, you don't have to scare everybody away. We came on our own." Xena explained.

"Hey, you!" Tousin yelled. "Go away!"

Yaron picked him up and carried him away. He taped a communicator/mic to his small ear.

"What are you doing?!" Xena yelled.

"You want to have a reason why we left the spacegates, right? Well, here it is!" Yaron told her.

Yaron ran ahead of the Humans, his hooves picking up speed.

"I just don't know about that guy." Xena shook her head.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They all arrived back at the ship, placing Tousin on a table.

"First, I want to be the one to tell you, Yaron that we're glad you came to our rescue. Right, Xena?" Aaron told his teammates.

"Sure, I suppose." Xena said.

"How come I can hear you all through this?" the small, dog alien asked.

"It was originally designed for different languages, then made for ANYTHING." Yaron explained while wiping himself off. "We have about a dozen extras in the ship."

"Hey, you know how we hover in the air if we don't act like Frankenstein's Monster?" Xena pointed out.

"Yes, why?" Yaron asked.

"Because Tousin-It's Tousin, right?-has no knees." Xena said as she poked him.

"Yeah, it's Tousin. And what are knees?" Tousin asked.

"Something to make your legs bend." Xena explained.

"Oh, you're right! I DON'T have knees. I need the Steady Stick."

"'The Steady Stick'?" Yaron asked.

"Yeah, my dad's the Keeper of the Stick. Every morning, Dad stands up using the stick, then gives it to the next person, until everybody is standing. He doesn't need the Steady Stick, though, because he has knees. It's just because he's the chief that he has it."

"Hmm. I have a theory. Maybe before, thousands or maybe even millions of of years ago, when these people first lived like people, they made sure to stay on the ground and out of the trees so they wouldn't float away. Then they stopped jumping, and finally, no longer had any knees." Yaron explained.

"Just where are you all from, anyway?" Tousin asked.

"From the stars!" Xena insisted.

Tousin's eyes got big.

"Really?"

A small knock could be heard outside.

"Hello?"

"Can you understand us?"

"That's Gareth and Karin. They're the bosses AND my parents." Tousin explained, too.

Yaron got out two communicators/mics and threw them outside.

"Put them under your ears and mouths!" Tousin yelled outside, his voice carrying through.

"Young Tousin, they haven't heard you, have they?" Karin said in a worried voice.

"Nope. We're taking him to our leaders-uh, I mean, 'other planet'!" Yaron said. "But before we go, we have a few questions to ask. Mostly about your Steady Stick and your knees."

"Karin, I think it's time." Gareth told his wife.

"And I thought we could hide it from him forever." Karin lamented.

"What's going on?" Tousin asked.

"Son, when I was young, as you know, my parents discovered I was different from the other children. I had these things called "knees". I was playing with some of the other children. We were playing ball and it fell into a tree. I climbed up the tree until I couldn't see the ground anymore. Soon, I was lost." Gareth explained.

"What does 'lost' mean?" Tousin asked again.

"It means I didn't know where I was!" Gareth explained further. "My friends got my parents and they eventually found me and coxed me back down. I try not to use my knees anymore because of it, since I used them for climbing."

"And the Big People?" Tousin continued to ask.

"On the same day your father lept into the trees, I saw something personally pass by across the skies." Karin told him. "It looked just like this one. But I haven't seen it since."

"Wow. So, the shimmery things can move?" Tousin asked.

"The 'shimmery' things are called 'stars'." Aaron explained. "This is a ship. It can take you TO the stars."

"Mom, Dad, this is it! The thing I've been waiting for all my life! You said you'd told me when I was ready-well now I am!" Tousin told them.

"Ready for what?" asked Yaron.

"To leave! To the stars!" Tousin declared.

"Tousin-" but his mother was cut off.

"It's obvious there are other worlds out there than this one. The Big People can take me to them!" Tousin went on.

"Actually, it's best that we take someone older than us. Perhaps the leader of your people." Yaron suggested.

"That would be me." Gareth told him.

"Aw. I wanna go!" Tousin whined.

"Quiet! That only shows how immature you still are." Gareth said.

Tousin wordlessly tried to get up.

"Right. The Steady Stick."

"I'll take him outside." said Yaron.

"Maybe we should take him, anyway." said Aaron.

"MAYBE we should let him stand on his own two feet." said Xena.

"But he can't!" Yaron pointed out.

"Let's see him try." Xena suggested.

"Really?" Tousin asked her.

"Go on!" said Xena.

Tousin stood as hard as he could. Then they heard two "pops"!

"Tousin!" cried both his parents.

"You have knees!" Gareth yelled.

"Wow! I never imagined I could do what you do, Dad, but I can! I love you guys sooo much!"

"We love you, too!" Tousic's parents declared.

""And now that I'm ready, I can leave, right?" asked Tousin.

The rulers looked at each other, then to the ship's direction.

"Yes. I think you can." said Gareth.

"Can I say goodbye to my family properly?" Tousin asked the crew.

"Sure thing." Aaron said as he picked them up and took him outside.

Tousin ran to his parents using his knees, then ran back outside.

"To the stars?" asked Xena.

"To the stars!" cried Tousin.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A week later, the crew, along with their new member, were back on Titan.

They were in a white room with about a dozen chairs. Stacey the scientist, and Jeremy Eron and Soo Claxton of the Dept of Space, Time, and Water, were also there.

At the front of the room with two podiums were a man and in blue robes and a woman and in red robes and both had capes. There were five people on either side of them, except without capes. The five on the man's side were women and the five on the woman's side were men. Beyond that was a purple curtain.

"Who exactly are these people?" Yaron whispered to Aaron.

"The one in the blue cape is Julien Okra. He is the president of Enceladus. The one in the red cape is Julia Okra. She's the prime minister of Titan." Xena told him.

"So, they're related?" Yaron asked.

"Yup. Fraternal twins." Xena explained further.

"It has come to our attention from one Jeremy Eron that you three passed by the spacegates and into the void. What do you have to say for yourselves?" asked Julien.

Stacey stood up.

"It's my fault, senators! I was the one to give it to them!"

"I didn't ask you!" Julien retorted.

"Brother, think of the bright side of this!" Julia spoke. "They brought back a new alien, and one to inherit leadership a that! We should do more than let them go, we should tell them to bring back more!"

"Hmm. Sister, others, I wish to speak with you in private." Julien told her.

"Very well, Brother." Julia agreed.

They both went behind the purple curtain.

"I hope we'll be okay." Xena said.

Aaron squeezed his wife's hand.

"Don't worry. We will." he said.

Soon, the senators came back.

"We've come to an agreement." Julien said.

"We'll let you go, but you must say you'll KEEP finding more aliens. As long as we ask you to." Julia said.

"WHAT?!" yelled Jeremy.

"I'm sorry, do we have a problem?" Julien asked.

"N-No, I'm good." Jeremy finished.

"The other thing we must tell you is that we don't want you to tell anyone about these new aliens. If you discover too many aliens at once, we could be disturbing their ways of life. We mustn't do this too quickly." Julien went on. "Also, Stacey Crumb? You will continue to design equipment for the team."

"Oh, good!" Stacey exclaimed.

"Oh, and one more thing." Julia said. "What will we call this new alien species? Let's have the ambassador say the word 'species'."

"Let's remove our communicators and ask the ambassador, Tousin." Aaron suggested.

Everyone removed the communicators/mics and Tousin said one word:

"Seiceps!"

They put their communicators/mics back on.

"Say it again." said Julien.

"Species!"

Everyone just stared.

"D-Did he just say it backward?" Jeremy spoke up.

"I think we should call them by their world, this time." Julia said.

Everyone took them off, again.

"Dlrow!"

Everyone took them off.

"World!"

"Hmm. It looks like the communicators are malfunctioning." Aaron offered.

"ALL of them?" Yaron pointed out.

"I guess it's just one of those mysteries." said Xena.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Soon, the crew was ready to leave. They stood out side a purple dome where the meeting would be held.

"We want Tousin here to stay with us so we can learn more about his planet." Julia asked.

"Sorry, but no-can-do!" Aaron told her. "But he's coming with us. He's apart of the crew, now."

"YES!" Tousin punched the air.

"After all, I need more crew mates. The usual crew is six members. We, including Tousin, only have four." Aaron explained.

"We'll hire you some more." said Julien.

"But I don't want to stay with you!" Tousin said.

"I know he's small, but we can find a job for him!" Aaron assured.

"Brother, you can't force him!" Julia told Julien.

"Fine." he conceded. "But bring the leader of Dlrow around whenever's good for you, okay?"

"You can count on it!" Aaron said.

Xena was outside, looking at the sky while the rest of the crew (besides her husband) was in the ship.

"Something wrong?" Aaron asked her.

"I'm just wondering what more people we're going to see when we go out to space, again. I mean, we were attacked this time." Xena shared her concerns.

"Don't worry, Xena. If anything else happens, I'll protect you!" he said with a hug.

"Thanks. I feel much better." she said as she hugged him back. "But, once again, I can protect myself. I'm more worried about YOU."

"You don't-" but Aaron was cut off.

"Hi, and goodbye, friends!" Stacey said as she hugged both Xena and Aaron at the same time. "Also, I have this new app which can snap into place on the brainwave tracker. It picks up TALKING, too! AND it translates automatically! AND the senators already know about it!"

"Wow, thanks!" Xena exclaimed.

"Yeah, we can't thanks you enough!" Aaron said.

"HEY! You guys comin'?" Yaron yelled from a ship front window. "I'll leave you two here!"

The two lead astronauts ran to the starting ship.

"Bye!" Xena and Aaron yelled at Stacey.

"Bye! Stacey said.

"To the stars!" the wife and husband declared.


	3. Opposites Attack

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to thank William Wright, AKA Loftydreams101 for one part of the story. I'll tell you just what at the end of the chapter.
> 
> I edited it again. 9/22/2019
> 
> And again. 11/25/2019
> 
> Thanks for reading!

"All hail Captain Kiera Kablue!" a voice called out.

It was nighttime with two moons out.

It was from a man in blue tights and a blue shirt with a blue headband. He had blue shoes. His skin was green with dark green hair. He had on black stripes.

Everyone else around him had blue headbands and tights and shirts and boots. They each had either purple skin and dark purple hair or light green skin and dark green hair. They had black-striped skin.

All except one with a red hat and shirt and tights. and boots. And purple skin and dark purple hair. Her's was more like a lion's mane. She also had black-striped skin.

"Thank you for your introduction, First Mate Cyrus Camp, but I can take it from here." Captain Kiera told him, standing on a box. "Ladies and gentleman! We have traveled the globe to find the most, best treasures left by ancient societies. Not to take them for ourselves, but to preserve them for new people to enjoy. Today, we set our sites on the floating city of Ocea."

"But Ocea's treasures aren't for the taking! The people there own them!" a a purple-skined mate out cried.

"They don't 'own' them!" Kiera bellowed. "They keep them locked away in the ruins!"

"Um, not that I disagree, but Kiera?" asked Cyrus.

"What?" she said, staring him in the face.

"I DO want to reach out and touch those treasures more than anyone, but we should skip a week then come back." Cyrus said, worried.

"I'm not afraid of their usual celebration. Are you?" Kiera asked.

"N-No way! I'm with you to the end!" Cyrus said, still shakily.

"I hope so. You all know that I'm a very impatient woman, and I've set my sights on this town for a ling time. I will not wait any longer. What say you all?!"

"HURRAH!" yelled the crew.

"That's better." said Kiera. "Now, before you all get back to work, I must remind you we will NOT harm the villagers, but sneak past them. In fact, I have a plan that will cause the citizens to be too afraid of us to let us pass. I still have the details to figure out, but I'll tell you in the morning. DISMISSED!"

Everyone went back to work.

Cyrus was about to leave, but Kiera grabbed him by the shirt.

"Join me for a bit, Cy."

"Of course." Cyrus replied.

Kiera leaned over the port side of the boat. Cyrus followed suit.

"Do you know why I asked you here, Cy?" Kiera asked.

Cyrus watched her stare at the sky.

"Y-You wanted to see the stars, Captain?" Cyrus asked.

"When we're alone, it's 'Ki'. Must I remind you?" Kiera said.

"Sorry." he apologized. "Why I'm your first mate, I'll never know."

"I know I can count on you when the going gets tough, that's why." Kiera spoke the truth. "Now, join me."

"Ki?" Cyrus asked in confusion.

"In looking at the stars!" Kiera pointed out.

"Oh! But what's so special about them?" Cyrus asked. "We use them to navigate the waters, but they're nothing special."

"One day I'll go and be apart of those stars." Kiera told him. "Then YOU will be captain."

"What are you talking about? First, you can't do that, second, you can't leave us, and third. Th-Third is I'd miss you." Cyrus admitted.

"Oh, I'll come back, I promise. But you'll be enjoying yourself too much to miss me. Besides, the crew needs a captain." Kiera minded.

"I don't think you'll leave, but if you do. If you do." Cyrus spoke softly.

Kiera squeezed his hand.

"Don't worry. It'll probably never happen."

"Hopefully. So, what's your plan to avoid the people of Ocea?"

"I'll tell you soon, trust me." Kiera said.

"Ki. I have something to say." said Cyrus.

"Yes? What is it? You can tell me anything, you know." Kiera replied.

"I-I'm tired of stealing treasurers off of others. Even if we put them in museums." Cyrus said.

"I'm not, but I know YOU are. Well, I don't like it a LITTLE bit. So, this'll be our last job. Stealing, anyways." Kiera conceded. "You'll be the captain, traveling the waters, and I'll travel the stars."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The space crew now traveled to yet another planet. It was in the closest galaxy to the Milky Way-Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy – or Canis Major Overdensity.

"How will we know when we get there?" Xena asked aloud.

"It said three days. It's been three days, so there." Yaron explained.

"I meant when we'll hear them! Stacey gave us an upgrade on the brainwave tracker, after all." Xena told him. "Say, how do we know where to go?"

"What do you mean?" Yaron asked.

"How can we tell apart the speech of the people apart from others? Like, wouldn't it take us to other rock harvesters?" Xena pointed out.

"We're going outside the spacegates. No one else does that." Yaron said.

"Um. Have you TRIED the speech feature, yet?" Tousin asked.

"No. I-" but Yaron was cut off.

"Then let's DO IT!" Xena yelled as she pushed a new, green button on the device.

All at once, the air was filled with hundreds of thousands of voices at once. Everyone covered their ears.

Tousin hopped up on the dashboard and hit a red button.

"You obnoxious lout!" Yaron voiced.

"I am NOT a boy!" Xena called.

"Um. Honey? Obnoxious means 'annoying'." Aaron pointed out.

"I meant 'lout'! It means 'an uncouth and aggressive MAN or BOY!' They're both bad, though." Xena said.

"Yaron-" but Aaron was cut off.

"PLEASE. Let's just try 2 figure out the tracker." Xena said.

"Get closer. I need you to know this more than anyone so you don't freak out, again." Yaron bid.

"So, what are all these buttons?" Xena asked as she tucked in.

"The entire tracker is white. The purple button tracks the brainwaves. The green button activates the talking. The red button cancels it. The yellow button? I don't know, but it turns instead of being pressed." Yaron explained.

"Well? Let's twist it." Xena went on.

"Fine." Yaron angrily conceded.

Xena twisted the nob until everyone could hear only two voices.

"King Caid Camile, there's rumors afloat that Kiera's crew is coming this way!" one voice said.

"Olly Oby, you know you are my most trusted adviser and messenger, but how do we know this?" the supposed king responded.

"We've just spotted her ship on the horizon!" Olly spoke.

"What flag?" Caid asked.

"The one with the face with the white face paint and red whiskers." Olly told him.

"Ah. Well, not to worry. The people will chase them away!" Caid declared.

"I don't think they're afraid, Sire. I think they know about Opposite Week and are coming, anyway." Olly sad in worriment.

"Fools! Don't they know of Kyros?" Caid said, indignant.

"I think they do. They just don't care. OR they think it's all local jibber-jabber." Olly spoke.

"We'll just have to get the citizens to try even harder!" Caid spoke, voice rising.

"Um. Kyros is one thing, but the pirates are another, Sire. I mean, Kyros is an animal-" Olly was cut off.

"KYROS IS NO ANIMAL!" Caid bellowed.

"Sorry, Sire Caid, but the citizens can scare Kyros, but not the pirates. They're too smart." Olly said.

"Hmm. Then we'll have Kyros-" Caid was cut off all the way up in space."

"What?! But we need to know more!" Xena whined.

She turned the yellow dial.

"Captain Kiera, could you please tell the crew your plan, now?" a voice asked.

"Very well, First Mate Cyrus. Everyone, we won't be stopped by Opposite Week. We're heading into the town of Ocea full-force! We'll scare them all away!" said the captain.

"How?" asked a third voice.

"We'll be in disguise!" the captain declared.

"We'll disguise ourselves as the people?" asked the voice.

"No! We will be-" but Captain Kiera was also cut off.

"Again?" asked Tousin. "What's wrong with the 'device'?"

"Probably because it's a prototype." Yaron said, putting a hand on his face.

"Well, one thing to do." Aaron said.

"What is it, Aaron-Honey?" asked his wife.

"We have to warn the king!" Aaron declared.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The ship landed on an island not far from the village. The sky shown two suns, an orange larger one and a small yellow one.

"The ship says the air on here is also mostly Oxygen, so we needn't need helmets." Yaron told them all.

"Let the ship in the bushes down there." Aaron pointed.

"Why?" asked Yaron.

"We must hide the ship here in case we make a bad impression on the locals." Aaron told his crew. "We wouldn't want them destroying it."

"Do you think they would?" Xena asked.

"I don't know, but I don't wanna find out." answered Aaron.

They put the ship in black bushes.

Xena looked over the horizon.

"Wow! So, Ocea is full of houseboats!"

Indeed, the whole town was on water. There were boards connecting each house to one another. But the real site was the big mountain on the shore with a golden castle with spires and a cave running underneath.

"I don't suppose we can travel on water?" Yaron asked Aaron.

"The snail ship? It can! I guess hiding the ship was a mistake. Time to travel-underwater!" Aaron declared.

"Let's just hope the ship can handle it." Yaron complained.

"It will." Aaron assured.

Soon, the ship was underwater and Yaron was analyzing the contents using the ship's bottom.

"Huh. The ship says there's Oxygen in the atmosphere, but the water is heavy water."

"What's heavy water?" Tousin asked.

"It's regular water with a different Hydrogen isotope." Aaron explained. "We checked you for it the first time came on board and ALL of us drink regular water. But if any of us drink too much of heavy water, we'll get sick."

"Ah." Tousin said.

Soon, the ship wandered to the bottom of one of the nearest houseboats.

"We'll need to stick to alleyways so as not to rouse suspicion." Aaron told his crew. "You'll have to hide in my shirt." he told Tousin.

"Alleyways on a houseboat town?" asked Yaron.

"Well, we don't have any money to buy disguises." Aaron said.

As they quickly ran into a dark passage, they noticed something.

"Did that guy have a hat on his butt?" asked Xena.

"I think he had pants on his sleeves, too." Aaron commented.

The crew kept walking and saw another person in the light.

"That guy is walking backwards!" Xena told them.

"Now, how do we get inside the castle?" Yaron asked out loud.

"What do you mean?" asked Aaron.

"We can't just walk in! We're not guests or royalty!" Yaron pointed out.

Then the crew noticed a group of mixed-up people walk by. Only they were dancing, cartwheeling, and using bizarre instruments. They were headed towards the castle.

"Can you dance?" Aaron asked Xena."

"Yeah. Can you cartwheel?" Xena asked Aaron.

"Yep. Yaron?" Aaron asked Yaron.

Yaron walked over to an instrument player who had dropped an instrument. He looked around, but couldn't find it. "Ick loot!" he said.

Yaron took it. "Thanks!"

He walked away.

Aaron, Xena, and Tousin poking out of Aaron's shirt, stared at Yaron.

"What? I can't dance or do cartwheels. I'm old!"

"Oh, yeah! Riders' lifespan is different from other races!" Xena reminded everyone.

"You need to give the loot back when this is over." Aaron said.

"If I must." Yaron conceded.

So, the crew followed the rest of the performers to the castle, performing themselves. Xena and Aaron were okay, but Yaron was terrible at playing.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Ki, what are these?" Cyrus asked his captain.

"They're the disguises." Kiera told her first mate. "See the humps on the backs? The big ears? It's sure to freak the citizens out! They'll cower in their homes and wait for it all to be over."

"I still think it's a bad idea, but I'm with you all the way, Ki!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"We'll follow behind the performers SLOWLY and out of eye shot. Then, when we get to the castle, we'll group in with them so we can get in." Aaron shared his plan.

The performers and crew were directed to the thrown room. The king wasn't there.

Yet.

"What are those other performers doing here?" a green lady asked a purple lady.

"Better not cause a scene with a communicator mishap." Yaron whispered to the rest of the crew.

Then four people, two of each color, entered the room with more loots. They sounded the loots and a man with a tied-back purple hair in a red outfit and golden shoes and familiar voice walked in a bowed. He had a black hat on his butt and black pants on his sleeves. Each of them walked in backwards.

"Here ye, here ye! All hail King Caid Camile!"

"That's Olly!" Xena whispered. "But I can't understand them."

"And here comes the king!" Aaron whispered.

King Caid had a golden crown on his butt and golden pants on his sleeves. He walked in backwards. He was in a long, red robe in gold trimming that dragged behind him. He was green and had a mane. He also had golden shoes. He took off his crown so he could sit down and placed it on the thrown to his right.

"I've gathered you here today because you are the best of what you do besides perform: Keep Kyros away!"

"Um, Sire?" a purple man raised his hand.

"What?" Caid asked. "Why aren't you speaking only when spoken to?"

"Sorry, but there's three performers here that aren't from here. Are they your guests, too?" asked the purple man.

"Again, WHAT? Bring these people before me!"

The performers parted and the crew was visible. The performers grabbed the crew and threw them at the king's feet. The crew dropped their masks.

"Why do you all look like that?!" the king cried.

"Your highness-" but Aaron was cut off.

"He can't understand us." Yaron said.

Yaron pointed to his ear and mouth then threw it at the king. Caid caught it then placed it in his ear.

"Who are you people?" Caid asked.

Aaron spoke up, again.

"Your highness, we have come here from other planets."

"Is this some kind of joke?!" asked the king.

Olly went up to the king and whispered in his ear.

"Sire, they sure LOOK like they'e from other worlds."

The king rapped his fingers on his throne and then spoke.

"Okay. WHY are you here?"

"We came simply to find and make friends with aliens." Aaron told him.

"'Make friends', huh? That's a good reason." the king said with sarcasm.

"We also heard about Kyros and Captain Kiera's plan to disguise her crew so they could sneak pass your people and loot your treasures."

A green person played their loot.

Everyone stared at them.

"Sorry. Just thought I'd chime in with a joke."

King Caid rolled his eyes.

"Both those things are bad news. However, we are going to use Kyros to scare Captain Kiera's crew away. THEN we will send Kyros away like we do every year. Kyros may be a monster, but Kyros' presence protects our treasures."

"Excuse me, Your Highness, but why send Kyros away in the first place? And what is Kyros, anyway?" asked Xena.

"Kyros is a terrible monster. It feeds on our fish every year for a week. We usually put guards near Treasure Cave the rest of the year, but the guards are too scared when Kyros comes along. We make as much noise as possible or a week until Kyros goes away. We also wear our clothes strangely in case Kyros sees us as it dips it's head out of the water. This week is called Opposite Week." the king explained.

"You really expect wearing clothes weirdly will do anything?" asked Yaron.

"I don't know. But we do all and it all seems to work." Caid explained further. "So, you are saying that the pirates are coming in disguise? As what?" Caid asked.

"We don't know. All's we know is that they're coming. And they're going to try to fool you and your people." Aaron explained.

"We know this because our advanced technology happened to catch it." Yaron explained, too.

"Hmm." the king murmured. "Kyros looks like a giant fin with giant ears on top. None of my subjects have ever seen her underbelly.

"If you allow us to get rid of the pirates AND Kyros, will you allow us to take a subject with us?" Yaron asked.

Xena shoved him in the arm a bit.

"Why would we do that?" she harshly whispered.

Yaron ignored her.

"We are ordered by our leaders to bring back an ambassador back from the last planet we came from. I'm sure they'll want to see more of them." Yaron explained.

"Hi!" said Tousin as he popped up from Aaron's shirt.

"You DO need more ambassadors!" the king proclaimed.

"HEY!" Tousin said, indignant.

"Alright. You may take Olly." the king told the crew.

"B-But Sire! I'm your most trusted adviser and messenger! You told me, yourself!" Olly said.

"I can get another guy." the king told him.

"Well, I HAVE been thinking about getting a new job." Olly told his king.

"Have you now?" asked a surprised Caid.

"I don't think we should take someone against their will. We'll make up our minds when we get back, okay?" Aaron suggested.

"Very well. Who will you go after first?" asked Cain.

Aaron and his crew huddled up.

"I don't see why they should worry about Kyros. She only comes once a year. It's probably a natural migration." Xena pointed out.

"Don't tell the king that." Aaron told her.

Then they finished deciding.

"We'll go after Keira, first." Aaron told the king.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"How are we supposed to find this 'Captain Kiera's' crew anyhow?" Yaron asked aloud.

"You know how Kiera said they'd SCARE everyone away?" Tousin told him.

"Yeah?" Yaron asked again.

"Well-WHAT ARE THOSE?!" Tousin yelled.

Hundreds and hundreds of black fins and ears could be seen poking out from the water.

"Oh, don't worry, Aaron-Honey. They're probably just migrating." Xena said.

"You mad woman!" Yaron yelled.

"They're the pirates!" Tousin yelled again.

"Then we should use the ship to go underwater!" Yaron declared. "We'll catch 'um in the act!"

"Good idea!" Aaron told him.

As the crew made their way to the hidden ship underneath a floating house, they heard cries and shouts of the frightened people. There was also people pointing at THEM.

The people overturned their own mini boats and revved their engines.

"Why are they doing that?!" Xena yelled.

"The king must've neglected to tell us about that." Aaron said.

The space crew went underwater and saw the boat crew underneath the disguises. They had snorkels to breathe.

"I have an idea." Xena began. "One of us'll go out and grab one of their disguises off, then grab them and show all the people on the boathouses."

"I'll go with you!" Aaron told her.

"I'm glad you're letting me go." said Xena. "Let's head out."

"Take our mics." Yaron said as he gave them two communicators.

Aaron and Xena put on helmets then swam outside.

They found a green man and grabbed him. They swam up to the surface.

The citizens saw the disguise taken off and were confused.

They murmured to each other then cheered. They knew there were fakes among them!

"What ARE you people?" the man asked after Aaron put a mic in his ear.

"You must be Cyrus." Aaron said.

"We're here to-" but Xena was cut off.

Captain Kiera grabbed her.

"Kthtt."

Kiera put the mic in her ear.

"If you don't want me to take your friend with me across the waters, you'll give me back my first mate."

"Captain Kiera, I am Captain Aaron and that is my wife. "I'd gladly switch for her."

"Oh? You have a ship, too?" Kiera asked.

"Sort of." Aaron told her. "We're from other planets. We're searching for more ambassadors and crew members."

"REALLY?!" Kiera yelped.

"Kiera! Don't switch for me, yet! Use me to get the treasure!" Cyrus told her.

"Are you sure?" Kiera asked.

"Yes." Cyrus conceded.

"Very well, than." Kiera said.

The four walked all the way to the Treasure Cave, all the while the people stared at them.

"Hey, half the cave is underwater!" Xena exclaimed.

"Must be how Kyros gets in." Aaron commented.

"You're not locals and you STILL believe that garbage?" Kiera asked.

"Why not?" asked Aaron.

Kiera meowed.

"Can you breathe underwater?" Aaron asked further.

"For about ten minutes, yeah." said Cyrus.

So, they all went underwater to the back of the cave.

"It's very dark in here." said Aaron.

"Good thing I grabbed a torch." said Kiera.

Kiera got out a match and torch.

All at once, the cave lit up. The walls were painted with yellow, glowing paint.

Kiera went underwater then came back up being careful to keep the torch above her.

"There's nothing here but cave paintings!"

"So, we came all this way for nothing?" Cyrus asked.

"I guess us archaeologists won't strike gold today." Kiera conceded.

"YOU'RE archaeologists?" asked Xena.

"We travel all over the world, find treasure, then put it in museums." Kiera explained.

"But Ocea's citizens don't want you taking their things!" Xena yelled.

"Well, we can't take them, anyway. In fact, our crew should stop taking things against peoples' will. Cyrus wants us to." Kiera said.

"Really, Captain?" asked Cyrus.

"You got it!" Kiera finished.

Then they heard a wailing sound.

"I-It's Kyros!" Cyrus yelled.

Xena and Kiera went underwater. Then they resurfaced.

"Did you see that?" asked Xena.

"Yeah. It has yellow, thin stripes. Thin means it's female. It's a washer." Kiera explained.

"'Washer'?" Aaron asked.

"Yeah, they're quite common in my homeland." Kiera explained further.

"She has an egg sack on her underbelly." Xena said.

"Yeah, they go to underwater caves to lay their eggs one week a year." Kiera said.

"So, the noise and weird ways of clothing does nothing?" Xena asked.

"Probably turning their boats upside down works." Kiera explained. "Well, we'll tell the king they're an endangered species. By law in Ocea, endangered species have to be kept safe in this country."

"I don't know how the king'll take that." said Xena.

"We'll tell 'um we'll leave the cave paintings alone as long as they put up with Kyros for a week a year." Kiera told them her plan."

"Let's hope it works." said Aaron.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The entire space crew had gathered in front of the king once more. Yaron and Tousin gave up their mics so the king and Olly could understand.

"I've already decided to take a portion of food from the people once a month each year to replace our fish. Besides, Kyros protects our treasure. We'd feed her if didn't deplete our fish population. It sounds like a LOT of babies will be born."

"I don't have to go with them, do I?" asked Olly.

"Nope." told the king. "Now, where are the pirates?"

"As it turns out, the pirates are archaeologists. They only wanted to bring the treasure to a museum. AND they've given up on taking things by force." Aaron explained.

"If you don't hand them over, I'll be forced to not send an ambassador with you." Caid told him.

Then Kiera barged in.

"Kyttht!" she yelled.

"Ah. So, YOU'RE Captain Kiera." said the king.

"Ratht."

"So, YOU'LL go with them?" asked Caid.

"Zther."

"What is going on?!" yelled Yaron.

"It seems the captain wishes to go with you. She'll be the ambassador. And as long as her crew she leaves behind never does anything by force, I'll let them go." the king said.

"I don't like this." said Yaron.

"Me neither." said Xena and Tousin.

"Yeah, but we need a new ambassador AND crew member." Aaron said. "Hey, what's the name of this planet, anyhow? And I wouldn't take off your mic because e can't understand you like Yaron can't."

"Catorona." answered Kiera.

The crew went outside. Kiera saw Cyrus, ran up to him, and hugged him.

Kiera got out a knife then and cut her mane. She grabbed Cyrus' headband and put it on her. She put her hat on his head.

"I'm joining a new crew, Cy. I'm going to the stars. You're the new captain."

"I'm gonna miss you, Ki." he said with a kiss.

Yaron couldn't hear their conversation, but he knew enough from the kiss.

"You leave behind your beloved to come with people you don't even know?! I just want to get off this planet!"

Yaron ran in the direction of the ship.

Aaron turned to Xena.

"It's time." he said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> William Wright, AKA Loftydreams101's idea was to have the alien people attempt to scare away the space crew by being opposite. It turned into the people attempting to scare off an animal instead.
> 
> Please read his poem novels, Rhythms of the Eternal Uprising and The Slums of Nightfall. You can also find him on wordpress and deviantART.


	4. Rainbowiriam

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to thank William Wright, AKA Loftydreams101 for advice, again. Remember Please read his poem novels, Rhythms of the Eternal Uprising and The Slums of Nightfall. You can also find him on wordpress and deviantART. Mom helped, too!
> 
> Nobody dies in this chapter, or is dead, OR is a ghost, but you won't know what the new characters are until the end.
> 
> Edited on 10/02/2019
> 
> Edited a LOT on 10/04/2019
> 
> Edited more on 10/11/2019
> 
> Edited again on 10/12/2019
> 
> Edited AGAIN on 10/25/2019
> 
> Edited another time on 11/25/2019
> 
> This chapter was made just for Halloween, by the way. It was first placed on Archive of Our Own, but will be posted on FictionPress on Halloween night.
> 
> Have a spooky time reading!  
Edited a LOT on 10/04/2019
> 
> Edited more on 10/11/2019
> 
> Edited again on 10/12/2019
> 
> Edited AGAIN on 10/25/2019
> 
> This chapter was made just for Halloween, by the way. It was first placed on Archive of Our Own, but will be posted on FictionPress on Halloween night.
> 
> Have a spooky time reading!

"Stacey's sure to like this, Armand!" a dark-skinned, long dark-haired woman in a skin-tight, yellow spacesuit told her friend.

"I think so, too, Eloise!" said a dark-skinned, short dark-haired man in a skin-tight, orange spacesuit, answered.

There was a silver rock on the ground. Eloise got out another article of her clothing. The clothing turned orange.

"And to think, we've just discovered new elements!" Armand said.

Eloise looked up at the sky.

"See you soon, stars!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The crew now had five members and decided to head back to Titan to celebrate.

"Do you know what day it is?!" Aaron excitedly asked his wife.

"No, not entirely. What day is it?" Xena asked back.

"It's Halloween Eve!" Aaron exclaimed.

"'Halloween Eve'? What's that?" asked Yaron.

"The day before Halloween! Don't they celebrate it on Trotter?" Aaron asked.

"Nope." Yaron admitted. "I don't use the word 'Trotter', by the way. Well, not often."

"On Halloween, us Titan kids go to a special place called the "Candy Grove". It's basically where all the adults-police, actually-check the parents' candy bags before giving them out. It's mostly for the kids, but adults do it, too. We all dress up, also. We pick costumes which are sure not to be scary."

"Sounds childish." said Yaron.

"Sounds wicked!" said Kiera.

"I keep forgetting we have communicators for you and Tousin and braced the ship." Yaron realized as he said so. "It was a pain in the butt, though. And we still need helmets and spacesuits for everyone!"

Aaron looked at Xena. Xena looked away.

"Lark? Would you please follow me?"

Yaron put the ship on autopilot, got up from the pilot seat, and followed.

"I've never been here before." Yaron commented. "Not to the back of the ship."

Yaron noticed two spacesuits on the floor. One was pink and the other sky blue like Aaron and Xena's first spacesuits.

"Yaron, do you know what meditation and yoga is?" Aaron asked.

"Sort of. I've heard of them." Yaron told him.

"Well, today I'm gonna teach you one of them-meditation. I'll teach you yoga another day." Aaron told him back.

"Hard pass!" Yaron declared.

"Yaron, if you don't learn to control your emotions, I can't keep you on the crew anymore." Aaron warned.

Yaron took a moment to answer. "Fine. If I have to."

"Good! Now, I'll let you sit the blue spacesuit, today." Aaron promised.

Aaron sat pretzel-style on the pink suit and Aaron did the same on the blue one.

"Shouldn't Kiera be wearing one of these?" Yaron asked.

"They don't fit her. Put your hands in your lap." Aaron told Yaron.

Yaron listened.

Yaron closed his eyes.

"Oh, I don't do that style. Keep your eyes open." Aaron coaxed.

Yaron opened his eyes.

"Try this first one. You see that point on the wall there?" Aaron asked.

Yaron saw something he hadn't seen before. A target.

"I want you to concentrate on that teeny tiny spot on the target." Aaron said.

Yaron stared.

"Only focus on that, nothing else." Aaron kept telling him.

Yaron kept on staring.

"Now, let's focus on blocking instead of concentrating." Aaron changed topics. "I want you to stare AROUND the point."

Yaron stared at the target spot around the little point.

"Now, after all that, how do you feel?" Aaron asked.

"Much better, actually!" Yaron said in elation.

"Now that you've meditated, I want the next time you get angry to do it again." Aaron told him.

"Thanks, Alair." Yaron said.

"Your welcome." Aaron said. "Sorry I didn't teach you sooner. I only found the whole idea off the web."

Yaron then saw something behind a curtain.

"What's that?" he asked.

"I can't tell you that." Aaron spoke firmly. "Not unless you agree to one thing: You promise to keep it a secret."

"Deal." Yaron bargained.

"Remember Stacey Crumb?" Aaron said.

"The scientist?" Yaron asked. "The one who gave us the brainwave device?"

"Yup. Before when I was only on my own, Stacey gave me this thing called an inter-dimensional travel box. I used it to go to different dimensions. I met my wife in one. She was living in another version of Enceladus at the time."

"You're kidding me!" Yaron said in disbelief.

"I'm telling only the truth!" Aaron swore.

"Can I test it out?" asked Yaron.

"Some other time." Aaron promised. "It's a prototype. Stacey only let me use it once-to test it out. So, do you get angry when you see couples torn apart?"

"Like how Kiera said goodbye to her boyfriend? Nah, just one of many things." Yaron admitted.

"Okay." Aaron conceded.

All at once, the two men heard talking. It was from the front of the ship.

"Guess we're needed, huh?" said Aaron.

"Yup." said Yaron.

"Stacey sent us a message." Xena explained once they entered the room.

Xena hit a button and Stacey's face came on the monitor.

"Hey, guys! This message may reach you at just the right time. You see, on an asteroid not far from where you are, there's two rock harvesters. Well, one's a scientist, but the other's a rock harvester. They've just discovered new elements. They're called Rainbowiram, Invisibliam, and Appearium. I was wondering if you could check on them? I haven't heard from them in a while. I'll send you the coordinates. Goodbye and good luck!"

A bunch of numbers appeared on the screen.

"We're finally there. Only we're getting brainwaves, not talking." Xena explained once more.

"Aren't we coming up on an asteroid field?"

"Looks like it." said Xena.

"But out HERE? We're still not near the Asteroid BELT." Yaron said in alarm.

"I hope we get to go to Halloween Night on Titan." Aaron lamented.

"We still need to see the politicians." Xena reminded.

"Them, too." Aaron conceded.

"I'd like nothing better." said Kiera.

"Me, too!" Tousin chimed in.

"Yaron, take the ship down." Aaron told him.

Yaron got in the pilot seat, turned off the autopilot, then brought the ship down.

Aaron and Xena put on their suits and walked outside.

They found a snail ship not too far from their own ship.

Aaron looked threw a window.

"It's filled to the brim with rocks!"

Then two people walked up to them.

"Hey, there! Did Stacey send you here, too?" asked a woman. "I'm Eloise Collins. This is my co-captain, Armand Cooper. He's also a scientist."

"We were harvesting rocks and found new elements." Armand explained.

"I know! Stacey told us." Xena explained further.

"I'll be returning to the lab, soon." Armand said.

"You should come to my parents' house before you see Stacey." Aaron told her.

"Shouldn't we see the politicians, first?" Xena asked.

"Yeah, but Mom'll make us some costumes! Then we can go to the Candy Grove together!" Aaron told her.

"We're both from Titan!" Eloise said. "But I don't know what to be for Halloween."

"My mom can make you a costume!" Aaron declared. "OR you could use one of your new elements. Can it change your clothes repeatedly?"

"It can! Thanks for the suggestion. I'll have rainbow clothes." Eloise said.

"You can't be invisible, though. The Candy Grove only allows non-scary clothes." Aaron told her.

"Oh, I forgot about that! It's cool, though! I'd rather much be rainbow." Eloise told him, back.

"Say, since you're scientist's leaving and you'll be on your own, wanna join OUR crew? We mainly have aliens that need to learn, and you know more about space than them, so, wanna be the final spot?" Aaron suggested.

"Would I?!"

So, Eloise became the sixth member of the crew.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Thanks, Mom!" Aaron said as they were leaving his parents' house.

"I can't believe your mother made us these costumes so fast!" Xena said in realization. "And I can't believe Armand wanted to skip it to go to Enceladus."

"Mom had all day to make the costumes. She sure can sew." Aaron said.

Xena was a bride, Aaron was a groom, Yaron was talked into being a soccer/football player, Tousin was told to be a fairy, Kiera was a washer, and Eloise was a rock pressed against her clothes, changing them to a shimmering rainbow. They had costume heads, except for Yaron who had a cloth in front of his face. (Only they didn't mind what they were.)

"Why didn't you ask for that thing on your old ship's sail to be made, Kiera?" Aaron asked.

"Oh, you mean an elderfoot? It's what my people used to be in the past. I already had a washer costume, though." Kiera explained.

"Your people are pretty advanced, Kiera." Aaron commented.

"Where's the Candy Place?" asked Tousin.

"Follow me!" Aaron said as he swam away in Titan's thick atmoshere.

Everyone swa after him.

Someone brushed past Yaron's shoulder.

Yaron turned and saw a child dressed as a ladybug and apparently her mother.

"Apologize!" he said.

"Sorry, mister!" said the ladybug.

"Good apologizing!" said the mother.

Yaron imagined a spot on the ground. He concentrated as hard as he could. Then he stopped.

"You coming?!" Aaron called after him.

"Yes. Thank you, Aaron." he said.

Aaron's jaw dropped.

"'Aaron'? Really?!" Aaron asked.

Yaron simply shook his head "yes".

"The mediation helps a LOT." Yaron told him.

"What would you need 'meditation' for?" asked Kiera.

"Yeah, and what is it?" asked Tousin.

"It's a way to relax." Aaron explained.

"Yeah, Aaron taught me it. It helps with my anger." Yaron explained further.

"You tell them?!" Aaron yelped.

"I may as well. The crew should know so I don't get fired." Yaron told him.

"You won't." said Aaron. "Let's celebrate Yaron's good health by getting treats! Everybody, now!"

So, they spent the rest of the evening getting candy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> William Wright, AKA Loftydreams101's helped with Yaron's anger issues.
> 
> Thanks!


End file.
